Senate looks at retooling campaign finance law

The State Senate has given initial approval to a bill that would remove the ability for Political Action Committees to give unlimited donations to candidates running for office. The bill limits the spending of a PAC to $5,000 in statewide races and $2,500 in local races. Individuals would be allowed to spend up to $2,500 dollars on a campaign. Supporters of the bill have complained that political action committees are used as a way to get a significant amount of money into a campaign. Casper Senator Bill Landen says right now people contribute through PACS because it allows them to contribute more money.

“That it cleans up the activity of a pass through account and I think that is a problem in our statutes where an individual can contribute a huge amount of money to a PAC and it just simply becomes a conduit,” says Landen.

Senator John Hines adds that the legislation should offer more transparency, so that the public can more easily see who is contributing to a campaign and how much they are spending. The bill will be debated two more times.